Keeping the Olympic flame alive

LODI — As a resident for only three months, Fern Miner didn’t know a lot of people at Vienna Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Lodi, but now, they know her.

The 88-year-old proved to be a ringer, winning two gold medals, a silver and a bronze in the center’s version of the Olympic Games.

The medal ceremony for the two-week-long competition, held in conjunction with the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, was Wednesday, and Miner took gold medals for discus throw and table tennis with partner Eva Valenti; she also won the silver for archery and the bronze for the shot put.

Draping the gold medal around her neck was Rink Babka, who took silver in the discus in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.

“I was a guest at this place for a few months; I got a replacement hip and after the replacement I came here for a few months of rehab,” Babka said. “It’s good to be giving back.”

Although the former Olympian has presented honorary medals to other competitors, this is his first at a rehabilitation facility.

The Olympics at Vienna were the brainchild of Jamie Henderson-Vilinskas, the marketing director.

“We were looking at what we’d be doing for this month, and with the Olympics coming up, we wanted some way for the people we work with to feel more involved,” Vilinskas said. “We went through different games they have at the Olympics and looked at what we could modify to make doable to the ability of our residents.”

They came up with shot put, javelin, discus, table tennis, archery and volleyball. Practices were held to introduce each activity, and then the competition played out during the run of the Olympic Games.

Miner proved to be the Michael Phelps of these games, much to her surprise.

Born and raised in Porterville, she never played many games and was not an athlete, she said.

Participating in the Olympics introduced her to the activities staff at Vienna and provided a break from her usual activities of reading, playing word search and bingo.

The residents seemed to be in the Olympic spirit during the medal ceremony, with the place decorated in the rings, an American flag and balloons the colors of the rings — red, blue, black, yellow and green — which represent at least one color of every flag of every participating Olympic nation.

The ceremony opened with Babka carrying a non-flammable Olympic torch to the strains of the theme from “Chariots of Fire” and the playing of the national anthem followed each medal presentation.

They were simple, something Babka could appreciate.

Although the one-time Olympian watches the games, he doesn’t much enjoy them.

“They’re too Hollywood,” Babka said. “You’re going there for the games, to compete.”

The spectacle of the games, and the money to pay for them, are far beyond the humble origins of the modern games, which weren’t televised in North America until 1960, the year Babka competed.

They were started by Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertain to promote health and fitness and to bring together young people of the world. They’ve ballooned into multimillion-dollar spectacles.

Vienna’s Olympics were just a tad different, bringing together an older population, for the most part, but encouraging participation and exercise all the same. Not to mention camaraderie. Those who won medals, and even those who didn’t join the 30 or 40 residents in competition, gathered for the medals ceremony. And, if endorsement deals and fame don’t come with this Olympic glory, there was pie and ice cream for all to enjoy.